About Us
Elna’s Dress Shop was started by a Danish immigrant, Elna Larsen.
It was May 1942 and America had just joined World War II when Elna Larsen opened a dress shop on Copenhagen Drive in Solvang, where she sold traditional Danish clothes she made for children, as well as some adults, using patterns she brought over from her native Denmark.
Her store windows showcased the colorfully trimmed bright red and blue dresses, wrapped with white aprons that laced with ribbon at the top over white frilly blouses, along with the boys’ jumpers held up by suspenders over short-sleeved white shirts.
“She was especially known for making bobbin lace,” said Esther Jacobsen Bates, executive director of the Elverhøj Museum of History & Art in Solvang. “She was technically trained in Denmark for that.”
But her Danish costumes were the big draw, becoming so popular she had to hire several seamstresses to help her make them.
A New Beginning…
Today, Elna’s Dress Shop still sits in the same location at 1673 Copenhagen Drive, and one window is still devoted to displaying the Danish costumes made by hand using the same patterns Larsen brought from the Old Country.“And it’s been all women — forever,” said Sue Manning, who with husband Bob bought the shop in 2004 after it had passed through a number of owners. “Women have successfully run this store for 75 years.
Sue Manning started working at Elna’s in 1997 and in 2001, she bought the store. Today, Elna’s Dress Shop caters to locals and tourists alike by offering a variety of ladies’ clothing, jewelry and accessory items to suit many tastes. Featuring quality name brands like Pendleton, Nic+Zoe, Jess & Jane, Habitat, Tianello, Multiples, French Dressing, SlimSation and Alfred Dunner, just to name a few.
Sue and her experienced staff love to help their customers pick out the perfect outfit, accessory or gift – stop in and see what’s in store!
The Rest Of The Story
Although Manning was really trained as a schoolteacher, she has been in the retail business for 40 years.
In fact, she worked in Elna’s for a year under one of the former owners before opening her own dress shop — Sue’s Place — in Lompoc. Two years ago, she closed that shop after 18 years to concentrate on Elna’s.
Now she runs the store with the help of her sister, Carol Herrin, and employees DeeDee Asmann and Regina Lingl, and she has a cadre of four seamstresses who produce the basic shells for the dresses and jumpers as well as the hats.
Manning’s husband, Bob, might be considered the shop’s token male, but he works behind the scenes at their home office making the price tickets, handling the payroll and paying the bills.
The Danish Draw
Even though the small shop is jam-packed with colorful contemporary fashions — dresses, skirts, blouses, pants, purses, wallets, belts, dark glasses, jewelry — the Danish costumes are still the store’s No. 1 seller, making that team of seamstresses necessary. “They pay the rent,” Manning said of the costumes. “It’s amazing to me. One grandma came in and bought five. Pink ones.”
Many of the buyers are tourists, she said, but a lot of locals also buy them for the annual Danish Days celebration in September. “We never know who’s going to buy them,” Herrin added. “There are a lot of people who come here once a year, and they hit this store,” Manning continued. “Then they go down to (Solvang Shoe Store) and have their pictures taken with the big red shoe.
“And we have our ladies who come in once a week,” she added. About that time, one of the regulars walked in — Arlene Brown. Manning greeted her like a long-lost friend. “These are my favorite friends here,” Brown said. “And we love having you here,” Manning replied. “I’m their model,” Brown joked as she headed off to try on some contemporary fashions that just arrived.